Hold On, We're Going Home
by Kiili
Summary: This story picks up at the end of Season One. Things are going somewhat awfully for Zac, as he tries to maintain both his land and sea life, whilst romance beings to take shape between him and Lyla. This description isn't the best but I promise my story is kind of better. Rating may change.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Hey there everyone! This will be my first time publicly posting fanfiction so I'm sorry that I'm not a very prolific writer but I really am trying. If there's any horrific mistakes I'm really sorry, but I did proofread it so hopefully there isn't any! This begins after the first season concludes, so hopefully you guys have all seen it! (if you haven't seen the end, there are spoilers and the storyline won't make sense, so maybe watch that if you can!)_

_Obviously, all the characters in this belong to Johnathan M. Shiff and I own nothing at all. I am just a lowly fangirl, please don't sue!_

**_CHAPTER ONE._**

**_And I go crazy 'cause here isn't where I wanna be,  
And satisfaction feels like a distant memory._**

"Look, Evie, I just can't do this anymore" sighed Zac, plunking down on the seat next to his girlfriend in the house that he shared with his parents.

"You know that you'll always be special to me" he said while gently tucking a lock of Evie's soft hair behind her ear. "But I can't always be here for you anymore". He sighed again, looking dejectedly at his knees. "It's better if you find someone else that will always be with you, and I don't think I can be that person" he trailed off, looking out the window to the slow ripples the water was making in the afternoon sunlight.

Evie, however, knew that this was coming. She had known for quite a while that Zac was struggling with, well, everything in his life. He no longer turned up to classes at school anymore, and he was practically non-existent at the Ocean Café where they used to spend a lot of time together with their friends. Now that Cam had gone crazy with the whole trident thing, Zac just seemed to spend every waking minute of his life in the water or at Mrs. Santos' house doing whatever it is they do there. It was all a bit frustrating that she couldn't really be a part of it, even though she knew the secret. She looked up at him and kissed his turned cheek.

"It's okay Zac, I understand. It must be so hard for you and I can see that, and I know our relationship has been suffering, but at the very least, can we still be friends?" she asked as he turned his head to face her and his eyes became glassy, and she wasn't sure if he was crying or if it was just a trick of the light. She felt some wetness at the corner of her eye and she turned away from him, hugging her knees to her chest and breathing deeply. He stood up and crouched in front of her, holding her hands. She looked up at him, her face streaked with tears.

"Of course we can darling. Of course we can." He said and kissed her hair. She sniffled a little bit and then got up.

"Well, erm, if you don't mind, I'm, well, I'm going to just go" she said and with that she swiftly departed, leaving Zac standing in the room alone with a sad look on his features.

**A/N: Thanks guys for reading :3  
I'm really sorry I just had to get rid of Evie I really don't like her so anyway yes the next chapter does exist to make up for this sucky one so yeah.**


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Hey guys! I knew I couldn't post that pathetic first chapter without posting this one almost directly after, but here is is, yay! This one is a bit longer and is not as boring as that necessary first chapter. Anyway, enough of me talking, let's get on with it. _

_As usual, nothing in this story belongs to me except the actual story. All characters, places, etc. belong to a very talented person called Johnathan M. Shiff and his crew_.

_**CHAPTER TWO.**_

_**Have you no idea that you're in deep?  
I dreamt about you nearly every night this week.**_

Blue. That's all he could see in every direction. Vast, blue nothingness. No cares, no worries, only blue. Zac hung suspended in the water for a moment, motionless except for the stray bubbles that were leaking out the sides of his mouth. He closed his eyes and wished it could be like this forever.

_Is this really my life now_? He thought while floating undisturbed in the salty depths. _Can I really just be… This? _A million questions with no answers flickered through his mind. He didn't really know if this was what he really wanted, not like he had a choice. Mrs. Santos' books had proven themselves useless; there was no documented way to reverse the change that had befallen him that night when he fell into the moon pool. What they thought would work they had already tried, and Lyla had gotten upset about the fact that he was still researching how he could resume his normal life with him.

_"But… I thought you liked being with us?" She asked, glaring at him out of the corner of her eye. He looked at her helplessly. _

_"I do, but this double life thing is really hard, Lyla. I can't do this anymore" he said, shoving the last book back into the bookshelf. _

That particular conversation was just another one of the uneasy conversations he was having with Lyla nowadays. Now that Nixie had gone and re-joined the pod, Lyla and Sirena have become a bit more anxious, despite the fact that it was their choice to remain on land. The pod itself had returned to Mako however they all kept a distance on Zac, despite him proving himself worthy of the pod's acceptance; the reality was they were still hesitant to trust a merman.

Zac was still pondering the questions forever looping in his mind when he felt a disturbance in the water behind him. All of a sudden he was tangled in a mess of blonde hair, arms and fin. He could feel Lyla's breath on his neck as he turned around to look at her.

_Gotcha!_ Her eyes said, twinkling bright against her fair skin. _You wish, _he thought, wrestling free of her grip and darting away, leaving Lyla in his wake. _Not for long_, she thought while rolling her eyes, catapulting as fast as her fin would carry her to catch up with the crazy merman. They finally caught up with each other when they returned back to the moon pool, sitting up on the rock and laughing.

"I wish all the time could be like this." Zac said as he continued to catch his breath. Lyla smiled at him, her eyes still twinkling.

"It could be." She said mysteriously, Zac looking at her in confusion. Lyla pushed away from the rock and floated in the centre of the moon pool, looking up at the sun through the centre of the dormant volcano.

"Join the pod, Zac. Come away with us. You don't ever need to go back there, and you know they'll accept you if you ask. You won't need to worry about land people things ever again, and it can just be you and me…" she trailed off, continuing to gaze at the deep blue sky. Zac looked at her longingly. She had offered this proposal to him before, and he had turned it down. He knew it hurt her feelings, but there was just too much he was giving up back on land.

"Cam's gone. Your parents have gone on a holiday overseas and they won't be back for a year. You've left Evie. What else is keeping you destitute on such a place?" she said, frustration creeping into her voice.

"I jus-" he began, but Lyla cut him off.

"You know what, I don't even care." She finished, and turned around and sped out of the moon pool leaving Zac alone and helpless, again. _What am I going to do?,_ he thought, before speeding off in the direction that Lyla had gone.

**A/N: Thanks for reading guys, I promise to update soon. In the meantime, reviews would be absolutely fabulous :D x**


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N Firstly, I can't actually believe people are reading my story. Thank you so much, it means a lot to me that you guys are reading and reviewing, you guys all get cookies! (and a really quick update, yay!)_

_I'm going to update some more now because real life will soon get in the way when I go back to university, sigh. Until then, I'll try and write as much as I can!_

_Mako Mermaids is owned by Johnathan M. Shiff. Not me. Unfortunately. _

**_CHAPTER THREE_**

**_And now I wish to God,  
That the earth would turn cold,  
And my heart would forget it's made of glass._**

"What am I going to do?" Lyla asked Rita in frustration as she looked out to the ocean from her balcony.

"The mermaids have forbidden a merman into the pod, and I'm scared that they'll leave again. I even told Zac that they would accept him… I'm so stupid." She sighed and hid her face in her hands.

"I… I thought they wouldn't have a problem. I thought that when they realised that Zac was a good person after that whole trident thing, he'd just be allowed. But they won't budge. I just don't know what to do." She repeated glumly through her fingers. Rita prised Lyla's hands away from her face and embraced her, tucking Lyla's head in between her head and shoulder.

"Shhh, I'm sure we can figure something out. But Lyla, you need to tell Zac the truth. He's dealing with so much right now.. He really needs to know the mermaid council's decision" Rita explained, softly stroking Lyla's hair. Lyla pulled back and looked at her.

"I guess you're right, but I still feel awful for getting Zac's hopes up." Said Lyla, making her way back inside. Rita followed close behind.

"Would you like a strong tea?" asked Rita, but before Lyla could give an answer there was a knock at the door. Lyla rushed down the stairs and peeked in through the living room window. Through the frosted glass she saw Zac kicking a stray pebble around Rita's front porch. Lyla quickly drew back from the window and replaced the curtains, hoping that Zac didn't see her. Lyla looked behind her and saw Rita standing in the doorway. She gave her a sad look before Rita advanced towards the door with every intention of opening the door.

"No don-" began Lyla but her plea was silenced by the sound of the front door opening. Zac's figure walked through the doorframe and into the carpet, bringing in trail of sand and the distinct crisp smell of seaweed with him. He wiped his shoes on the doormat as Rita closed the door behind him, and then looked up to see Lyla standing in the walkway between the entrance and the living room. He smiled at her, although she only gave him a blank stare in return. He was about to ask if there was anything wrong, but before he got the chance, Lyla turned around and walked back into the house without a sound.

"Lyla, wait!" said Zac, but it was too late, she had already vanished around a corner. He glanced at Mrs. Santos looking for an explanation, but she just looked at him with a pained look on her expressive features.

"There's nothing I can do, Zac, there's really nothing." She said vaguely and turned in the other direction to Lyla to sit outside in the afternoon sun. Zac was left standing in the entranceway, a puzzled look on his face. He walked slowly up to the bookshelf that revealed a secret passageway to an underground section of Mrs. Santos' home, a living memorial to the life she lived as a mermaid, and also to her long lost human lover. He scanned the room, looking for a girl with blonde hair and bright eyes. He found her, sitting in a corner fumbling with a blue ring that could hold the powers of the moon within its gemstone.

"Lyla, are you okay?" he asked quizzically, he really had no idea what's going on.

"Zac.. I.. I don't know if I'm okay or not. I just don't know." She said and she looked at him sadly. "Nothing I do or say is even right…" she continued, gesturing to the space around her. "You can't join our pod Zac, I wish you could, but they won't be persuaded. Nixie won't even talk to me anymore when I go near there since I refused to join with her, and she keeps saying these awful things about _land people_, like they are some kind of disease, and it's making Sirena upset, because I know how much she loves David, and, well, she knows how much I like _you._" She said, placing her ring back on her second finger.

Zac looked at her in a mixture of confusion and disbelief, he had no idea the reason Lyla decided to stay on land was because of him. He took a step back and he tripped over a small table, sending the items resting on it crashing down with him. He landed in a heap of red velvet and seashells. Lyla laughed and rescued him from the clutches of the heavy fabric. He flinched away and walked into the next room, which contained a pool full of seawater that tunnelled out to the sea.

"Lyla, _why_, no wait- _when_… Lyla, I..." he trailed off with a shocked look on his face.

"Zac, I'm sorry, I um, I thought you knew. But I'm really sorry." She apologised over and over again, her face becoming red.

"I just wanted you to be with me forever, in the sea with me. Living the dream life you once told me about. I clearly thought…" but she stopped then as her eyes became wet and she ran past him and dived straight into the pool, swimming so quickly Zac didn't even have time to watch. Once again, Lyla had left him alone. Zac didn't know what to think, or feel, or even do. His whole body became paralysed with the thought that Lyla liked - even _fancied _- him, and he didn't even realise. How could he have been so stupid this whole time? It all kind of fit into place now; the reason why his and Evie's relationship wasn't working out, the reason why he stopped going to school, the reason why Lyla stayed and tried to convince the mermaid council to accept him as a member of their pod and the reason why he now spent more time without legs than with them. It was _her_, and he had ruined everything by being so stupid. He wanted to hit himself for being so dumb.

He jumped into the water and felt himself transform for what was the umpteenth time into a creature of the seas. His powerful tail undulated behind him as he streaked through the water like some kind of twisted, underwater cheetah. He had a feeling he knew where Lyla was, for she had shown him a pod of dolphins just the other day that had migrated to the warmer waters just off Mako's shores for the summer. One of the younger dolphins, he _thought _(or more accurately, Lyla translated dolphin language for him) considered him a friend of sorts, but he couldn't really be sure.

He felt something come up beside him and race him to the dolphin's hideaway. He turned to face the side with a pang of nervousness, thinking it was an enemy, but instead it was that young dolphin, racing him back to the dolphin pod with a wicked glint in his eye. _For they aren't tame dolphins, _Lyla's voice whispered through his head. _They might try and be your friend, but you cannot treat them as a pet. Treat them as equals_. Zac looked back at the dolphin with and even crazier gleam in his eye and pressed forward, feeling the dolphin beside him doing the same.

All too soon, the race was over, as soon some other young dolphins playing in the water that had just been warmed by the sunlight came into their vision. Zac had just beaten his competitor, turning around to see the young dolphin swimming eagerly behind him. Zac smiled at him and continued on his search to find Lyla. He swam through the pod of dolphins, careful to not disturb any conversations, and feeling elated when the dolphins acknowledged him. _I really might belong here_, _more than the human world, at least_, he thought to himself. He saw a flicker of orange fin and he turned to see a large orange tail disappearing behind some of the young dolphins. He followed it and Lyla turned around and saw him. Her eyes flickered sadness and tension as she looked over at the person_, - no, merman – _that had stolen her heart.

She was about to swim over to him before a loud noise startled the entire pod of dolphins. The noise was then directly followed by a cloud of red, and Lyla saw Zac falling through the water, his eyes closed with a shocked expression on his face. The young dolphin that was just before eagerly racing him was falling down with him, slashing the water with his fins. Lyla looked up and could see the silhouette of a land-people boat reflected in the top of the water. She frantically looked back towards Zac, who had finally come to rest at the bottom of the ocean with the dolphin, his arm wrapped loosely over the mammal's body. Lyla looked at him, and then the boat again frantically. She had no idea what to do.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: This is a really, really short update but I wanted to post this before I went to sleep. The other half of the chapter will be up soon! Thank you for reading and reviewing!_

_**edit;** I've edited this chapter a little bit. I wasn't one hundred per cent sure how the mermaids were going to converse with dolphins, but I've written it in italics to show that they are communicating, just through their minds and their noises. I can't really explain this, it worked in my head I swear!  
_

**_CHAPTER FOUR_**

**_"Let them miss you. Sometimes when you're always available, they take you for granted because they think you'll always stay." _**

_He can't be dead, he just can't be_, Lyla frantically repeated in her head as she looked from the boat to Zac, lying in a grotesque serenity on the ocean floor with the dolphin. She couldn't believe that she completely missed the fact that a boat had approached the dolphin pod. _We were probably seen_, she thought. She shared a panicked look with one of the older, motherly dolphins, who looked at the two unconscious sea creatures with a look that only a mother would recognise.

_"This was my son," _her eyes seemed to say. Lyla stroked the dolphin's smooth face reassuringly. _We've got to get them out of here_, she thought, and with that, she tentatively swum over to where Zac and the dolphin lay. There was a harpoon lightly dug into the soft flesh of Zac's stomach, which had streaked past the dolphin so quickly his stomach had a deep slash going from one side of his body to the other. Lyla had no idea what to do. She checked for a pulse in the crook of Zac's neck, and was relieved when he found one.

_"You have to take him to the pod,"_ the mother dolphin suggested. She looked at the dolphin sadly.

_"They don't want him. They won't help him_." Lyla looked at Zac again, then at the dolphin.

_"You __**must**__. It's the only thing you can do, otherwise he will die". _The dolphin's words echoed in her head. Lyla closed her eyes and tried frantically to think of another option. The mother dolphin, however, was right. There was no time, and Zac needed to be saved. Mako was just a short swim away, and the pod would be there, she knew it. She opened her eyes slowly and the dolphin looked at her questioningly.

_"I'm taking him"_, she told her, and then went doen and scooped up Zac's lifeless body from the floor. The young male dolphin had regained consciousness enough to flap his fin weakly. Lyla's heart raced, and the mother dolphin sped forward.

_"You're okay, you're okay", _she could hear the dolphin repeat as she worried over her baby. Lyla looked at them both.

_"If I'm taking Zac to the pod, your son is coming with me as well,"_ she told the dolphin.

_"Very well, be safe young ones. We will wait in safer waters for your return," _the dolphin communicated as she gathered up her family, ready for the travel ahead. _Thank you, Lyla_, she clicked as she turned tail and began swimming away, her pod following behind her.

Lyla draped Zac over her shoulder, and held onto the fin of the young dolphin.

_"Are you okay to swim_?" She asked him cautiously. He acknowledged her with a flick of his tail, and slowly, they began their procession down to the secret depths of the Mako pod's home.


End file.
